Drop everything and download: Sticky Terms
Lost in translation
You’ve played so many Scrabble knock-offs that you’ll lose it if faced with another letter tile. But you love word games. What to do?
Fortunately, some games creators dare to think outside the box. Philipp Stollenmayer has form in this, having made bonkers and brilliant acrobatic letter puzzler supertype. His latest, Sticky Terms, might be even better.
What’s it all about, then?
The aim is to create words from fragments. Early examples are simple – if you can’t reconstruct the first puzzle from its two component parts, seek help. But the puzzles soon get tougher, initially resembling abstract art.
There’s also a twist in that the words are weird. Most cannot be translated into other languages – although you’ll have heard of (and may use) some of them. So you usually need to rely on recognising and patching together letterforms. Complete a puzzle, though, and you’ll helpfully be told where the word is from and what it means. See – gaming can be educational!
Is it any good?
It’s wonderful – a simple concept realised in perfect fashion. Visually, the game’s a treat, with beautiful typography atop a virtual paper surface. The controls and audio are similarly a joy: dragged elements separate with a pop, are rotated with a tap, and click when correctly merged.
It all feels premium, hand-crafted and tactile – to be expected from the creator of Song of Bloom. Which means it’s a minor jolt that you must watch an ad to unlock each set of words. Still, that’s a very minor gripe about an otherwise faultless word game – and one that can be eradicated on iOS (although sadly not on Android, due to technical reasons) if you input a code from the creator’s own see/saw or supertype, which seems like a good deal to us.
Where can I get it?
Sticky Terms is free for Android (Google Play) and iPhone/iPad (App Store).
Craig Grannell
Contributor 
